Elegy For A Young Poet, by Catherine Gigante-Brown at Spillwords.com

Elegy For A Young Poet

Elegy For A Young Poet

written by: Catherine Gigante-Brown

@BklynCatwoman

 

In memory of Noah, who took his life by drowning on 10/20/13 at age 19

 

Everyone has thought about it
at least once or twice
if they’re completely honest.
So to say you can’t imagine it
is a lie.
But to actually do it
is unthinkable,
especially now
when I’ve been fighting
so hard to live
for the past few months,
filling my body with poison
to heal it,
letting the doctors
cut away a piece of me
to save the rest.

Yet still,
I understand the emptiness
that fills your every thought,
your every breath,
that pain
like the sharp stab
deep in a tooth
that will not go away
that will not be ignored,
that will not shut the fuck up,
even when you beg it to,
even when you ask it sweetly
with all of your being.

Yes,
I understand the infinite sadness
that made you do it,
so unbearably profound,
but I cannot accept it, beautiful boy,
and I will not.

Catherine Gigante-Brown

Catherine Gigante-Brown

Catherine Gigante-Brown is a writer of fiction, nonfiction, plays and poetry. Her poems have appeared in publications like Seventeen, Ravishly and Downtown Express. She has featured at Tom Kane’s BookMark Bards and Ken Siegelman’s Brooklyn Poetry Outreach, Voices of Poetry and also at the long-running Green Pavilion Poets. Along with late poet Darryl Alladice, Gigante-Brown developed a powerful spoken word piece called “My Brooklyn, Your Brooklyn,” about coming of age in the County of Kings. They have performed MBYB at several venues throughout the Tristate area, including the Cornelia Street Café, 440 Gallery, 61 Local, the Park Slope Barnes & Noble and the Italian American Museum. Gigante-Brown’s novels, “The El Trilogy” (“The El,” “The Bells of Brooklyn” and “Brooklyn Roses”), “Different Drummer” and “Better than Sisters” (which includes her poetry) are published by Volossal. Born and bred in Brooklyn, New York, Gigante-Brown, her husband and son make their home there and upstate in Rosendale.
Catherine Gigante-Brown

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